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Veteran's rookie mistake

Regarding “Fired police officer wants his job back in Piedmont,” (News, Nov. 22): Bravo, Piedmont Mayor Valerie Thomerson for so eloquently expressing what Oklahomans and apparently a lot of people from around the world are feeling about the police officer who wrote a $2,500 ticket to a young mother for the crime of allowing her three-year-old son to urinate in the front yard.

Like Thomerson, I admire and respect many of the state's law enforcement officers. At the same time, I'm aware that some police officers are stupid and more of a threat to the public than protector. Many internal screening nets are in place to detect and remove the stupid and/or dangerous officers. This police officer, Ken Qualls, was finally detected and disposed of, as he should've been. The fired officer now wants his job back. He said losing his job will be a financial hardship on him. Did it ever cross his mind about the hardship his $2,500 fine would have put on the young family? People who are placed in a position of trust and authority, but who aren't qualified, pose a threat to the public's safety and actually escalate most situations they respond to.

I hope Qualls will never be unleashed onto the public again in any position of authority. Had he been a 24-year-old rookie, this could've been overlooked and forgotten with a chuckle. But a 45-year-old officer with 18 years of experience? No way!